2025 OTAs are underway

[Sargent Hulka]

Listening to Vince Carter (limited owner) speak with the press left me very impressed. I think he will be a real positive for the team.

[Captain Hindsight]

10 hours ago, Mango said:

Isn't it crazy how different this place is when we're winning. If this was mid draught the OTA thread would already be like 14 pages long as we all scower to try and cling on to some minute detail about a player being our sole source of hopium.

 

Now it's just like "meh, we're good, I'll see you in September"

I don't miss the days of trying to convince ourselves that Justin Fields is going to help us compete 

 

Oh wait, thats the Jets message board 

[dje85]

16 hours ago, Mat68 said:

He isn't recovered yet.  I think come Sept he is in Buffalo either practice squad or main roster if there is an injury.  

Nah, thankfully Gabe Davis will be a Giant. He has been on a visit this offseason and is still in touch with them. 

[YoloinOhio]

13 hours ago, Steve Billieve said:

So are we not going to start 5 new threads about Cook not being at otas?

 

I’m so confused, I thought I knew this place 

This and where is the “Joey Bosa already injured!” thread? 

[Mango]

34 minutes ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I don't miss the days of trying to convince ourselves that Justin Fields is going to help us compete 

 

Oh wait, thats the Jets message board 

That's what Sabres Space has been until the last 10 years. Now it's mostly taring and feather Pegula. (Which he 100% deserves)

 

I don't think Ralph or the Bills ever saw the mass contempt that Sabres fans have for Pegula  and the team at the moment. 

[SCBills]

13 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Really hope they pay Cook! 

Go back and watch the games.  He's arguably the second best player on the entire team.  He doesn't take big hits. His vision in the hole is as good as Thurman and Shady.  His speed is excellent.  He has enough power to get an extra yard or two after contact.  His hands once thought of as a liability by some are elite.  His route running is crisp and quick.  He deserves a massive contract.  Thanks to the system he doesn't have a ton of wear and tear.  

It could be as simple as do we pay Cook or McGovern. 
 

Both arguably Top 5 players at their position.

 

RB is easier to find, but we also have the best OL Coach in the NFL. 

[nucci]

5 minutes ago, Mango said:

That's what Sabres Space has been until the last 10 years. Now it's mostly taring and feather Pegula. (Which he 100% deserves)

 

I don't think Ralph or the Bills ever saw the mass contempt that Sabres fans have for Pegula  and the team at the moment. 

Because the Bills with Ralph had some success a few years at a time. Sabres are one the worst run franchises in hockey under Pegula

Edited yesterday at 01:29 PM by nucci

[Mango]

23 minutes ago, nucci said:

Because the Bills with Ralph had some success a few years at a time. Sabres are one the worst run franchises in hockey major league sports under Pegula

 

FTFY

[BADOLBILZ]

11 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

Great sign. Feel like Buf would've jumped on Gabe if they had doubts with Keon.

 

I wonder if it's that or if it's because he was an interception magnet and Brady just didn't want him back because of that.   They've already rolled the dice with Elijah Moore who was the target on 8 INT's last year they don't need another high risk target.

[Don Otreply]

2 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I wonder if it's that or if it's because he was an interception magnet and Brady just didn't want him back because of that.   They've already rolled the dice with Elijah Moore who was the target on 8 INT's last year they don't need another high risk target.

This, and his availability / injury history, not a lot there to be desired, he did play injured, but that wasn’t a benefit by any means, in just amplified his deficiencies, jmo,

[Captain Hindsight]

11 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I wonder if it's that or if it's because he was an interception magnet and Brady just didn't want him back because of that.   They've already rolled the dice with Elijah Moore who was the target on 8 INT's last year they don't need another high risk target.

He failed a physical. He's pretty injured. I saw one report he was using a cane to walk

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I don't miss the days of trying to convince ourselves that Justin Fields is going to help us compete 

 

Oh wait, thats the Jets message board 

 

Bahahaha...post of the week

 

Man, those were some dark days.  When your teams most popular or clamored for football player is the back up QB no matter how bad they are, its a very dark era at QB.  I mean we lived through times where people made cases for guys like Brohm, Cardale Jones, etc just because they had yet to get on the field in a real game and prove they were trash yet.  Gross

[Nihilarian]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

That's what Sabres Space has been until the last 10 years. Now it's mostly taring and feather Pegula. (Which he 100% deserves)

 

I don't think Ralph or the Bills ever saw the mass contempt that Sabres fans have for Pegula  and the team at the moment. 

Terry was the hockey fan and Kim was the Bills fan...thank the lord that wasn't reversed. 

 

Thinking of Tom Golisano, who just retired from Paychex as Terry ought to call him to ask for some insight on how to fix the Sabres. 

[HappyDays]

On Bishop:

 

Quote

Just a day into OTAs, it was clear how much more comfortable he looked and sounded in his second year in the scheme. He was extremely quick to read his keys and had the confidence to make instinctive moves to try to play a hunch, either against the run or pass.

 

Ahead of the snap, Bishop was a constant communicator with Taylor Rapp, Taron Johnson, Christian Benford and others. You could hear Bishop’s loud, booming voice as clear as day ahead of the snap to try to get everyone on the same page. The confidence in both of those equally important phases is a solid step forward from where things began around this time last year. The Bills have always maintained that safety is one of the more difficult positions for young players to walk into as a rookie, but in his second year, Bishop appears to have stepped up his game in the early stages.

 

[RiotAct]

5 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

On Bishop:

 

 

let’s hope that remains when the bullets start flying in early September!  I have high hopes for Bishop too.

[Mango]

43 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

Terry was the hockey fan and Kim was the Bills fan...thank the lord that wasn't reversed. 

 

Thinking of Tom Golisano, who just retired from Paychex as Terry ought to call him to ask for some insight on how to fix the Sabres. 

 

Hijacking the thread a bit here, and then I will back out of the topic, but I actually think that the Bills have emboldened Terry on the hockey side because McBeane manage him so well that he thinks he is the reason for the Bills success. 

I think that McBeane convincing Pegula to draft Allen was the turning point for managing the organization and Pegula. They without a doubt put on a masterclass. Everybody is sort of wowed by McBeane sitting down and spending 17 hours (with Pegula in the room) to watch literally every snap Allen took. But it's insane. There are so many moving parts to prepare for the draft. Preparation that begins and is on going for a year before you get to that point.

 

"Because we want ownership behind this" and "just to go through ownership" was the most telling quotes from Beane in that story. I don't believe for one second that in stable organizations like the Baltimore Ravens that Eric Decosta has to sit down with Steve Bisciotti to for 17 hours, and watch every single snap from a QB prospect right before the drat in order to "get ownership behind" the GM and HC's pick for the QB position. 

What I do believe is the mountain of evidence of Pegula's flat management style that he has amassed from 2011 - today with the Sabres and 2014-2018 with the Bills. Where anybody can bring Terry an idea, and if he likes it he pulls power from his senior executives (ie. HC and/or GM) and pulls the trigger. And I believe that the reason for that 17 hour meeting with Pegula is mostly because it was required of McBeane to change Pegula's mind rather than that meeting being a super normal occurrence for teams with their owners just before the draft. 

Edited yesterday at 03:41 PM by Mango

[The Firebaugh Kid]

17 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Really hope they pay Cook! 

Go back and watch the games.  He's arguably the second best player on the entire team.  He doesn't take big hits. His vision in the hole is as good as Thurman and Shady.  His speed is excellent.  He has enough power to get an extra yard or two after contact.  His hands once thought of as a liability by some are elite.  His route running is crisp and quick.  He deserves a massive contract.  Thanks to the system he doesn't have a ton of wear and tear.  

He ain't gettin 15 million as a liability in pass pro. 10-12? Sure. 

20 hours ago, appoo said:

Low key excited about Elijah Moore. He looked really talented early in his career

That's a hell of a player right there. Gonna explode in Buffalo. I'm excited as hell about these WRS all of the sudden. 

[HappyDays]

1 hour ago, RiotAct said:

let’s hope that remains when the bullets start flying in early September!  I have high hopes for Bishop too.

 

If nothing else it's notable that he's with the starting defense, and getting them into position at that. That tells you the coaching staff is impressed with how prepared he came into OTAs. This regime is not the type to hand out jobs based on draft position. If anything I would have expected Hamlin to have the job early by default and force Bishop to steal it from him. Instead Bishop has the job on day one of OTAs. That's promising.

 

Bishop's physical traits have never been in question. If his mental game has caught up that's a huge boon to the secondary.

[fergie's ire]

4 hours ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I don't miss the days of trying to convince ourselves that Justin Fields is going to help us compete 

 

Oh wait, thats the Jets message board 

Not only that but we'd be getting a million leaks about what's going on behind the scenes. Competent organizations sure make for boring off seasons.

[Paup 1995MVP]

4 hours ago, SCBills said:

It could be as simple as do we pay Cook or McGovern. 
 

Both arguably Top 5 players at their position.

 

RB is easier to find, but we also have the best OL Coach in the NFL. 

McGovern and Cook are both very good NFL players.  However, McGovern's position is more important because it is much harder to find a top Center, than a good RB.  The Bills would be stupid not to extend McGovern and pay him as a top 5 center.  

 

That doesn't mean we should not try and extend Cook.  But he is likely pricing himself out of what the Bills will pay a RB long term regardless of who that runner is.  The offense goes through Josh Allen.  We don't need James Cook to have an excellent offense.  The Eagles needed Saquan Barkley.  The 49ers need Christian McCaffrey.  We will be fine if Cook doesn't play.  We have the same O line, and Ray Davis Ty Johnson and whomever else suits up will make plays running the rock.